This invention relates generally to methods for processing meat cuts and, more particularly, to an apparatus and method for trimming fat from a meat cut.
The contour of the fat/lean on a beef strip as well as on other meat cuts is erratic and testing has shown no correlation. Therefore humans need to physically remove the thick fat cover from the beef strip and similar cut of meat. The fat is extremely difficult to cut due to the thickness of the fat layer and meat cut and due to the cold temperature. A significant number of people are needed to do this trimming, and due to the physical stress involved with making the cut, the trimming process can often lead to repetitive strain injuries. Also, a downgrade of product is possible if a mis-cut is made due to the fact that an operator must “guess” at the location of the fat/lean interface.
Work has been done to develop fat trimming devices where the fat would be “machined” off the top of the cut with spinning cutters. The cutters perform poorly and do not accurately address the incurring problems such as; ridges of fat, pulling fat into the cutting tools, stalling the equipment and cutting into the lean. Some plants have tried devices where the trimming device only cuts with a fixed blade. Fixed blades are not effective due to variations in the fat thickness and contour from one meat cut to another. Also, special devices have been used to reduce forces encountered by a worker's hand, wrist, and arm when cutting with a straight knife to eliminate strain injuries.
The greatest disadvantage of using other machines is the variable profile of the fat/lean interface for a meat cut particularly that of the beef strip meat cut. Further, human cutting cannot determine the fat/lean interface until after the lean has been cut which may down grade the product.